May 31
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
For Death Penalty Opponents, Repeal Victory in N.H. Has Been A Long Time Coming
Opponents of capital punishment cheered from the Senate gallery when the
override vote was tallied. They hugged and they cried. And worked to put the
demise of the death penalty into perspective. Hampton Democrat Rep. Renny
Cushing had sponsored repeal bills unsuccessfully for years. Until now.
“There is a Seamus Heaney poem that talks about moments when hope and history
rhyme, and for me this is one of those moments when hope and history rhyme," he
said after the Senate vote.
The override cleared the Senate by precisely the 2/3 margin required. The
debate was short, and at times sharp. Senator Sharon Carson, a Republican from
Londonderry, offered a lengthy argument against repealing the death penalty.
“This is not Louisiana of the 1920s, where Old Sparky was put up on a flatbed
truck and driven around from prison to prison and people were executed," she
said. "We are not those people.”
But for other senators, like Bob Guida of Warren, also a Republican, granting
the state the power to take life, period, goes too far.
“This is called an issue of conscience because it supersedes any consideration
of politics and for that I respect my colleagues, for that anyone who would
subordinate this issue to political motives is a reprehensible person,” Guida
said.
But politics were at play on this vote.
The governor’s office was urging GOP senators to back his veto right up until
the vote. Last week in the House, some 2 dozen Republicans who had voted for
repeal flipped to support Sununu’s veto. But just 1 senator did on Thursday:
David Starr of Franconia.
In a statement, Sununu said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the override.
Senate President Donna Soucy, meanwhile, said her chamber “did the right
thing.”
"There is a Seamus Heaney poem that talks about moments when hope and history
rhyme, and for me this is one of those moments when hope and history rhyme." -
Renny Cushing
This vote also split Democrats.
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester supports the death penalty but says getting
rid of it appears to be the will of the people.
“I think it’s been going on and on and on and on, and for years and years and
years, and finally, those who want the death penalty gone have won the case,
but they haven’t cured the situation," he said.
D’Allesandro was talking about violence, and the threats faced by law
enforcement. New Hampshire's lone death row inmate, Michael Addison, was
sentenced to death for killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in
2006. That case has shaped the debate over capital punishment here for years,
and this repeal could alter its outcome. As written, the repeal would leave
Addison’s death sentence intact. But death penalty bans in other states – even
prospective ones – have ended up sparing inmates on death row.
And for activists who gathered on the State House steps after the vote to
celebrate, people like Arnie Alpert of American Friends Service Committee, this
fight didn’t sound over.
"And where we are today is not the end, we are at a point on the arc of the
moral universe, and it is bending towards justice and we can see that today,"
Alpert told the crowd.
But as a smiling Renny Cushing reminded the activists, now might be an
opportune time for a rest.
“But come on," he said, "let’s break bread together, let’s have a meal.”
(source: New Hampshire Public Radio)
*********************
New Hampshire Catholic officials laud state's death penalty ban
On May 30, New Hampshire lawmakers garnered enough votes to abolish the death
penalty in the state, overriding a veto from Gov. Chris Sununu and becoming the
21st state to ban capital punishment.
Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester thanked lawmakers shortly after the vote in
a statement issued on the New Hampshire diocese's website.
"As good citizens, we must not look upon this vote as a victory, for that would
dishonor the grief of those whose lives have been tragically altered by the
crimes committed against their loved ones and society in general," he said.
"Instead, we need to stand together as a citizenry and live by what we said
when we spoke of human dignity, incarceration that rehabilitates, especially in
cases of life without possibility of parole," Libasci said. "Being part of a
society that is committed to dealing with the ills that lead to the
decomposition of personhood and the evil crime of murder is the work of a noble
people who uphold the sacredness of human life."
Though the New Hampshire Legislature had passed the bill repealing capital
punishment in mid-April, the governor in early May vetoed the bill, but
legislators in the state garnered enough votes to override the veto.
"Today's repeal is a major step toward building a culture that unconditionally
protects the dignity of life and is yet more evidence that the death penalty is
falling out of favor with the American public," said Krisanne Vaillancourt
Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a Washington-based
organization that works to end the use of the death penalty.
"Along with death penalty abolition comes the opportunity to create more
restorative responses to incidents of harm," she said in a May 30 statement
following the announcement of the repeal. "Today, we especially hold in prayer
all murder victims and their family members and ask for their continued
healing."
The organization referred to efforts by Catholics in New Hampshire to support
the measure that abolished the death penalty.
"In New Hampshire, Catholics played key roles to advance H.B. 455," the
organization's statement said in referring to the bill. It also noted Libasci's
"written testimony in support of the bill, where he labeled capital punishment
'a faulty response' to crime and urged legislators to 'repeal the death penalty
and devote more resources to providing services to (families of murder victims)
so we may offer a true path of support and healing.' "
Though the governor who vetoed the bill is a Republican, a group called
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty pointed out the bipartisan
effort in overriding the veto and spoke of support among conservatives to
abolish capital punishment.
"Ending New Hampshire's death penalty would not have been possible without
significant Republican support. Increasing numbers of GOP state lawmakers
believe capital punishment does not align with their conservative values of
limited government, fiscal responsibility, and valuing life. The state of New
Hampshire will be much better off because of it," Hannah Cox, the group's
national manager, said in a statement.
Without a single vote to spare, 4 Republicans voted with 12 Democrats to
override the veto 16-8.
(source: National Catholic Reporter)
************************
New Hampshire Repeals the Death Penalty
Reacting to news that the New Hampshire legislature has voted to repeal the
death penalty, Kristina Roth, Senior Program Officer at Amnesty International
USA stated:
“We welcome this outstanding news. With this vote, New Hampshire will become
the 21st state to have abandoned the death penalty. This inhumane practice is
the ultimate irrevocable punishment and denial of human rights. It does not
deter crime and disproportionately impacts communities of color. This system is
fundamentally broken and must end once and for all.”
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally.
(source: Amnesty International USA)
*****************************
New Hampshire repeals death penalty as Senate overrides veto
New Hampshire, which hasn’t executed anyone in 80 years and has only 1 inmate
on death row, on Thursday became the latest state to abolish the death penalty
when the state Senate voted to override the governor’s veto.
The Senate vote came a week after the 400-member House voted by the narrowest
possible margin to override Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto of a bill to
repeal capital punishment.
“Now it’s up to us to stop this practice that is archaic, costly,
discriminatory and final,” said Sen. Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline.
New Hampshire’s death penalty applies in only seven scenarios: the killing of
an on-duty law enforcement officer or judge, murder for hire, murder during a
rape, certain drug offenses, or home invasion and murder by someone already
serving a life sentence without parole.
The state hasn’t executed anyone since 1939, and the repeal bill would not
apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Officer Michael
Briggs and is the state’s only inmate on death row. But death penalty
supporters argued that courts will interpret it differently, giving Addison a
chance at life in prison.
“If you think you’re passing this today and Mr. Addison is still going to
remain on death row, you are confused,” said Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry.
“Mr. Addison’s sentence will be converted to life in prison.”
Carson argued that New Hampshire has a narrowly drawn law and a careful,
deliberative process to ensure innocent people are not executed.
“This is not Louisiana of the 1920s where Old Sparky was put on a flatbed truck
and driven from prison to prison and people were executed. We are not those
people,” she said. “That doesn’t happen here in New Hampshire.”
The Senate vote, 16-8, was exactly the 2/3 majority necessary to override the
veto. 12 Democrats and 4 Republicans supported ending the death penalty, while
6 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted to keep it. The latter included Sen. Lou
D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, who represents the district in which Officer Briggs
was killed. He urged his colleagues to remember law enforcement officers who
put their lives on the line every day.
“I can’t abandon these people,” he said. “These people are there for us.
They’re there for us, and I believe strongly we have to support them.”
Sununu, who vetoed the repeal bill surrounded by officers at a community center
named for Briggs, said Thursday he was incredibly disappointed in the vote.
“I have consistently stood with law enforcement, families of crime victims, and
advocates for justice in opposing a repeal of the death penalty because it is
the right thing to do,” he said in a statement.
But Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, a former FBI agent, said while he greatly
respects law enforcement, the death penalty is at odds with his pro-life
principles. He called execution a “ghastly” process and urged his colleagues to
“move our civilization” past it.
“I think we’re better than that,” he said. “I choose to move our state forward
to remove the death penalty.”
30 states allow capital punishment, but in 4 of them, governors have issued
moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information
Center. 20 states have abolished or overturned it. New Hampshire lawmakers have
been considering and rejecting repeal efforts for the last 2 decades.
Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, vetoed a similar bill in 2000. Another
Democrat, former Gov. John Lynch, signed a bill in 2011 expanding the death
penalty to cover home invasions in response to a machete and knife attack that
killed a woman and maimed her daughter in Mont Vernon.
(source: Associated Press)
ALABAMA----execution
Alabama inmate who killed a pastor in 1991 is executed
An Alabama inmate convicted of stabbing a minister nearly three decades ago
died by lethal injection Thursday night, officials said.
Christopher Lee Price's execution was carried out at 8:12 p.m. ET. at William
C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Bob Horton, a spokesman for the
state Department of Corrections, said in an email to CNN. Price was pronounced
dead at 8:31 p.m. ET, according to Horton.
"Tonight, the family of Pastor Bill Lynn, who was brutally murdered nearly 30
years ago, has finally seen Lynn's killer face justice," Alabama Attorney
General Steve Marshall said in a statement.
Marshall said Price was "fighting until the very end to avoid facing the
consequences of his heinous crime."
The execution went ahead after the US Supreme Court narrowly denied a request
for a stay from the 46-year-old inmate. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. It was the second time the
nation's highest court has addressed Price's case.
In a narrow decision in April, the Supreme Court ruled that Price's execution
could go forward hours after Price's death warrant in Alabama had expired.
Price had argued the lethal injection protocol would cause him severe pain and
asked that the state use lethal gas as an alternative. Two lower courts agreed
to put the execution on hold.
But after Marshall petitioned the Supreme Court, the majority agreed to lift
the stay of execution. The court said that Price had waited too long to make
his claim.
Death row inmates in Alabama had the choice back in 2018 to elect to "be
executed via nitrogen hypoxia" but that Price did not do so, the majority said
in the unsigned order.
"He then waited until February 2019 to file this action and submitted
additional evidence today, a few hours before his scheduled execution time,"
the majority held.
Breyer, joined by the three other liberal justices on the high court, penned a
dissent.
Price and an accomplice wielded a sword and a knife in 1991 and stabbed Lynn to
death, according to the state attorney general's office.
"On December 22, 1991, Bill Lynn was wrapping Christmas gifts for his
grandchildren when he was ambushed outside his home, slashed and stabbed with a
sword dozens of times," Marshall said in an earlier statement.
"His killer has dodged his death sentence for the better part of 3 decades by
employing much the same strategy he has pursued tonight -- desperately clinging
to legal maneuverings to avoid facing the consequences of his heinous crime,"
the statement said.
Earlier on Thursday, Price released a statement to his victim through his
attorneys.
"I am so terribly sorry to the victim and his family for my crime. Neither he
nor his family deserved what I did. Nobody deserves that," he said.
(source: CNN)
*****************************
PUT TO DEATH ---- Alabama death row killer’s ‘belly heaves’ as he’s executed on
gurney for butchering pastor with sword in 1991
An Alabama man convicted of butchering a country preacher with a sword during a
1991 robbery was put to death by lethal injection on Thursday.
The execution was carried out at Holman prison weeks after Price avoided
another execution date amid disagreements between U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Price was convicted in the killing of Bill Lyn, a north Alabama pastor slain
just days before Christmas.
Lynn was at home with his wife assembling toys for grandchildren on Dec. 22,
1991 when the house’s electricity failed.
After Lynn went outside to check the power box, his wife heard a noise and
looked out the window to see a man dressed in black and holding a sword above
her husband.
She ran outside and attempted to flee in a van, but was beaten and robbed of
money and her wedding ring. An autopsy found that Lynn had been cut or stabbed
more than 30 times.
Price was arrested several days later in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He admitted
participating in the robbery but blamed another man for the killing.
Kelvin Coleman pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in
prison, while jurors convicted Price of capital murder and a judge sentenced
him to death.
JUSTICE ADMINISTERED
Strapped to a gurney moments before his death, Price: said "A man is much more
than his worst mistake". He was pronounced dead at 7:31 p.m.
Alabama Govenor Kay Ivey issued a statement saying Price had had to be
punished.
"Finally, the loved ones of Pastor Lynn can feel at ease knowing that justice
has been administered,” she said.
“I pray that, after all these years later, his family can feel a sense of peace
and comfort.”
Relatives of both Price and Lynn were among those present to witnesses the
execution, which was delayed by more than an hour awaiting the verdict of a
final request for a stay made to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Price lifted and lowered his head twice after the initial knockout drug was
administered, and his belly heaved 5 times, the Associated Press reported.
He then didn’t respond when an office tested for consciousness consciousness by
flicking his eyelashes and punching him in the arm.
A statement from Lynn's family thanked friends and relatives for their support
during a "long and difficult journey."
'WE ARE PRAYING TO HAVE PEACE'
"We are praying to finally have peace," said the statement, read by a prison
official.
Price’s attempt to secure a stay of execution was based on a challenge to
Alabama’s practice of using 3 drugs for lethal injections.
The nation’s highest court voted 5-4 on Thursday night not to halt the
execution, though no reason for the decision was given.
Price had asked to instead die by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method Alabama
has legally authorized but not developed.
His lawyers argued the method, which kills by depleting the body’s supply of
oxygen, would be less painful than lethal injection.
At the time Price admitted to participating in the robbery but blamed someone
else for the murder.
(source: thesun.co.uk)
*****************************
Examining the “sanctity of life” in Alabama
We cannot give Alabama lawmakers (mostly men) and Gov. Kay Ivey a pass on their
flippant claim they revere life, as they say they demonstrated in passing the
nation’s most strict and unconstitutional anti-abortion law.
Claiming they care a whit about the “sanctity of life” demonstrates total
cynicism and disrespect to their constituents.
Much of this has already been underscored in the national media over the past
couple weeks; if Alabama politicians know anything, they know how to become
laughingstocks and fools to the rest of the nation. It’s their “special” skill.
And to those extremely rare Republican lawmakers who are reasonably sound of
mind, that you went along with this charade is deeply disappointing.
Shame on you Sen. Cam Ward. You know better. Grow a pair. The great majority of
lawmakers have no issue in serving without integrity. You were not one of them,
Sen. Ward.
Writing that last sentence in the past tense is painful. But then, the truth
really does hurt.
The anti-woman, anti-physician, anti-choice law would send doctors to prison
for up to 99 years for performing an abortion on a woman unless her life was in
serious danger. There’s no exception for rape. There’s no exception for incest.
There’s certainly no respect for women or their doctors.
As Ivey stabbed the great majority of Alabama’s women in the back by signing
the fatally flawed bill, she smugly, hypocritically, declared: “Today, I signed
into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, a bill that was approved by
overwhelming majorities (of men) in both chambers of the Legislature. To the
bill’s many supporters (angry white men and their subservient white wives),
this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held
belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from
God.”
And: “The Legislature has spoken. It underscores the sanctity of life the
people of Alabama value so highly.”
Then Ivey proceeded to oversee her 7th execution of an Alabama inmate. She’ll
preside over her 8th execution tonight, unless a court intervenes. We know Kay
“Sanctity of Life” Ivey sure won’t.
Every life is precious. Every life is a sacred gift from God. Sanctity of life?
More like sanctity of bull****.
Ivey refuses to push for an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care
Act. That alone would save actual lives. Alabama’s infant death rate is among
the worst in the nation. Third World nations like Cuba have lower infant death
rates than Alabama. Yet, not one bill passed this legislative session to
address that sad reality.
Our political leaders believe strongly in what they can’t see or prove and then
proudly, stubbornly ignore what they can see and do.
Journalist Annalisa Merelli points out there’s nothing new about white women
betraying their gender. Merelli first quotes former U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help
other women.”
And then Merelli writes: “It might be disappointing to witness women stripping
away other women’s rights, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Women —
overwhelmingly the white ones — have time and again supported, and in fact
fought for, the patriarchy in the US.”
That’s right. Many white women know their place – under their husband’s thumb,
and they like it there.
All manner of issues, from women’s suffrage to the Equal Rights Amendment to
reproductive freedom have been opposed by white women. They still are.
Right Rep. Terri Collins? Right Gov. Ivey?
Alabama is one of the poorest states in the nation. Yet, our societal safety
net is awfully small (more of a dip net, really) and getting smaller. Sanctity
of life? Please.
Alabama makes it difficult for poor children even to get food. We want folks
who receive government aid to show they’ll work for it, even when they can’t,
and we’ll make them take a drug test before they even apply.
Journalist Sasha Abramsky quickly makes the same point about Alabama: “Sanctity
of life? Don’t make me laugh. Not surprisingly, in a state whose political
leaders view access to basic medical care as a privilege rather than a right,
the infant death rate is shockingly high. … At the back end of life, people
also die sooner in Alabama than almost everywhere else in the U.S. A lethal
cocktail of poverty, malnutrition and lack of access to health care has
resulted in a life expectancy that places Alabama 49th out of all the 50
states. An Alabaman born today can expect to live about three years less than
the average for an American.”
Abramsky continues: “Additional stresses on Alabamans’ life expectancy come
from two other state-specific factors: Alabama has one of the highest
gun-fatality rates in the country, and one of the most anti-gun-control
legislatures. For every 100,000 Alabamans, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention data show that 22.9 will die of gun-related injuries every year;
that compares to 7.9 per 100,000 in California. It also has one of the highest
car crash fatality rates in the country … Sanctity of life? More like a
potpourri of cruel or unthinking policies that, cumulatively, make life tougher
and shorter for Alabama residents.”
Are Ivey and Collins and all those white Republicans in the Legislature just
trying to fool themselves? Or are they intentionally scamming us because they
assume we’re stupid?
We have to admit we ain’t too smart.
Elections have consequences, folks. We generally get what we deserve. Don’t
like it, do something about it. You can, you know.
And women: Don’t be a slave to any man.
(source: Opinion; Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column every
week for Alabama Political Reporter)
*******************
Old death penalty conviction creates an opportunity for JeffCo’s new DA
Last November, Danny Carr was elected District Attorney of Jefferson County.
Carr ran on a platform of reforming a criminal justice system that too often
prioritized convictions over truth and transparency. His election, and the
promise of a new regime in the District Attorney’s Office, could not have come
at a better time.
In a 2018 interview, Carr explained that while public safety is his top
priority, “we’re going to make sure that it’s done fair, that it’s done
respectfully [and] done in a transparent manner.” Six months into his first
full term, District Attorney Carr has an opportunity to stand up for fairness
and transparency in the case of Toforest Johnson, a man on Alabama’s death row.
In the early morning hours of July 19, 1995, Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff
William G. Hardy was tragically shot and killed in the parking lot of a
Birmingham hotel. Mr. Johnson and three other young, African-American men were
arrested for the crime. There was no physical evidence or eyewitness testimony
linking Mr. Johnson to the shooting. He and other witnesses have always
maintained his innocence, explaining that he was across town at the time Deputy
Hardy was killed.
So how is Mr. Johnson on death row today? The answer: in 1998, at Mr. Johnson’s
trial, the State put on the testimony of a witness who claimed she could
connect him to the crime. This woman did not know Mr. Johnson, had never met
him, and did not know what his voice sounded like. But she claimed that one
day, while eavesdropping on a three-way telephone call, she heard a man
identify himself as “Toforest” and admit to shooting Deputy Hardy. That’s it.
On that testimony alone, the jury convicted Toforest Johnson and sentenced him
to die.
Sound hard to believe? Don’t take my word for it. Former Assistant District
Attorney Jeff Wallace was the lead prosecutor on Mr. Johnson’s case, and he
testified in court that “I don’t think the State’s case was very strong,
because it depended on the testimony” of that one witness.
Earlier this year, documents were disclosed for the very first time that the
District Attorney’s Office paid its star witness $5,000 for her testimony. The
previous District Attorney’s Office never told this information to Mr.
Johnson’s lawyers or the jury.
That’s not transparency; that is a deliberate effort to conceal facts about the
critical witness in a death penalty case.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Jefferson County District
Attorney’s office was involved in a secret reward payment to a witness in a
death penalty case. In 2015, Montez Spradley was released from death row after
his lawyers discovered that one of the State’s star witnesses was also paid
$5,000 for her testimony, which was never disclosed to the defense.
Make no mistake – District Attorney Carr was not the District Attorney in 1998,
when Mr. Johnson was sentenced to death. This is the legacy of the previous
office that Carr inherited when he was elected last November, and he knows it.
He even tweeted about the Spradley case during his campaign. But this does not
have to be the legacy of District Attorney Carr.
As members of the Birmingham community, it is important that we ask Carr to
follow through on his promise of fairness and transparency in our criminal
justice system. I, along with other leaders in the Birmingham community, have
written to District Attorney Carr. We are asking him to support a new trial for
Mr. Johnson – a fair trial, one in which the jury hears the whole story. What
could be more transparent than that?
We at Greater Birmingham Ministries understand that Mr. Johnson was convicted
and sent to death row in the name of the people of Jefferson County and the
State. We can’t stand idly by. A new trial would not only be justice for Mr.
Johnson, it would be justice for us all.
(source: Scott Douglas is the Executive Director of Greater Birmingham
Ministries----al.com)
*********************
Man arrested in Phenix City drive-by shooting could face death penalty if
convicted
Phenix City police have made an arrest in a Memorial Day weekend drive-by
shooting on Fourth Place South, according to a news release Thursday morning.
Jamarkus Quintez Rowell was arrested late Wednesday and charged with capital
murder in the death of 22-year-old Tre’yahi Allen. If convicted, he could face
the death penalty.
If you kill someone while shooting from a vehicle, you are subject to the
capital murder charge in Alabama.
Rowell is being held in the Russell County Jail without bond.
Sunday about 8:50 p.m., police were called to 1001 4th Place South in reference
to a person who had been shot. Officers found Allen dead at the scene.
Witnesses stated that an SUV pulled up and stopped in the roadway; a male began
shooting from the vehicle, striking Mr. Allen, according to police. The suspect
then fled the scene in the vehicle.
(source: WRBL news)
LOUISIANA----female may face death penalty
State to decide by Aug. 1 on death penalty in Levi Ellerbe homicide case
The state will decide by Aug. 1 whether to seek the death penalty for Hanna
Nicole Barker, the woman accused in the July 2018 burning death of her
6-month-old son, Levi Cole Ellerbe.
Barker was in court Thursday for a hearing on 22 motions in the first-degree
murder case, all but one filed by defense attorney Dru Thompson.
Barker and another woman, Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith, are accused of staging
Levi's kidnapping on the night of July 17, 2018, from the Natchitoches travel
trailer where he lived with Barker.
The indictment against Smith, who also faces a 1st-degree murder charge,
alleges that she set Levi on fire in a ditch after dousing him with gasoline.
The boy was found less than 2 hours later when a passerby reported the fire.
Levi suffered 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns over 90 % of his body. He died early
the next day at a Shreveport hospital.
(source: thetowntalk.com)
OHIO:
Prosecutors and lawyers for a Jordanian man who spent two decades on Ohio's
death row before his conviction was tossed said Thursday that they are trying
to work out an agreement to avoid his retrial.
Ahmad Fawzi Issa, 49, in jail stripes and handcuffs, pleaded not guilty to
aggravated murder in Hamilton County court. He will remain jailed without bond.
While the murder charge may end up being dropped, attorneys said Issa will face
likely deportation to his homeland after this case is resolved.
Issa was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to die for allegedly arranging the
1997 slaying of a Cincinnati convenience store owner. The 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals last year threw out his conviction, ruling that his
constitutional right to confront witnesses against him was violated and that
hearsay testimony was used to convict him.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ohio's appeal and gave the state 6
months to retry Issa or release him.
Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said it would be difficult to take the case to trial
again after so many years, and that at least 2 of the original police
investigators have died. He also said of three people charged in the case,
Issa, the alleged middleman in a contract murder, got the strongest sentence in
the slaying of store owner Maher Khriss.
"The least morally culpable, in my mind, is the guy that got the death
penalty," Piepmeier told The Associated Press. "It's kind of unjust."
Judge J. Patrick Foley III scheduled a July 18 hearing for an update on the
case.
"Right now, he's pretty positive and upbeat," said Issa's defense attorney
Timothy McKenna, who added that he is still reviewing the original case.
Khriss' wife, Linda, was charged with hiring someone to kill him but was
acquitted at her trial. Andre Miles was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated
murder of Maher Khriss and his brother Ziad Khriss in the parking lot of
Maher's store in the early morning hours of Nov. 22, 1997.
Miles is serving life in prison without parole. Miles refused to testify at
Issa's trial, in which other witnesses said Miles told them he was hired by
Issa to kill the store owner.
The appeals court said Miles' statements "are the only direct evidence
implicating Issa in a murder for hire." The court's ruling also pointed out
that Miles' friends said he often bragged and lied.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Jury Recommends Death in Ambush Killing of Police Officers----A jury has
recommended death for a man convicted of killing 2 California police officers
and wounding 6 others in an ambush-style attack in 2016.
A jury on Thursday recommended death for a man convicted of killing 2 Southern
California police officers and wounding 6 others in an ambush-style attack in
2016, prosecutors said.
The same jury that convicted 28-year-old John Hernandez Felix of murder and
attempted murder earlier this month recommended capital punishment, according
to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
He'll be sentenced by a judge on Aug. 30.
Palm Springs Officers Lesley Zerebny and Jose "Gil" Vega were killed responding
to a call about domestic violence at the home of Felix's mother on Oct. 8,
2016. Prosecutors said Felix opened fire with an AR-15 rifle.
6 other officers were injured as police and Felix exchanged gunfire in the
neighborhood more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. Felix
was arrested after a lengthy standoff.
"We are gratified with the jury's verdict and this represents a step toward
justice for these 2 fallen officers," District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a
statement Thursday.
Defense attorney John Dolan has contended Felix, an admitted gang member, is
intellectually disabled and should not face capital punishment.
Dolan didn't immediately comment on Thursday's jury recommendation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year announced a moratorium on enforcing the
death penalty but the decision does not prevent prosecutors from seeking or
judges and juries from imposing death sentences.
Vega, a father of 8, was a 35-year veteran months away from retirement when he
was killed. He wasn't scheduled to work the day he died but had volunteered to
fill the shift.
Zerebny was a rookie officer just back from maternity leave.
(source: Associated Press)
*************************
Kim Kardashian visits prisoner on death row----Kim Kardashian travelled to San
Quentin State Prison to meet a prisoner on death row
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star visited the prison on Thursday, 30 May
to meet Kevin Cooper, 61, who was convicted of committing 4 murders in Chino
Hills.
Cooper has been on death row since 1983 but he has always maintained that he
was framed.
Kim has been working on Cooper’s case since October, where she requested the
then-Governor of California Jerry Brown to look into the case, TMZ reports.
The current Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is against the death penalty
opponent and he has decided to suspend all executions whilst he is in office.
She wrote in a lengthy Instagram post recently: “Last year I registered with
the California State Bar to study law. For the next four years, a minimum of 18
hours a week is required, I will take written and multiple choice tests
monthly. As my first year is almost coming to an end I am preparing for the
baby bar, a mini version of the bar, which is required when studying law this
way. I’ve seen some comments from people who are saying it’s my privilege or my
money that got me here, but that’s not the case.
“One person actually said I should ‘stay in my lane’. I want people to
understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams,
and the accomplishment of new goals. You can create your own lanes, just as I
am. The state bar doesn’t care who you are. This option is available to anyone
who’s state allows it. It’s true I did not finish college. You need 60 college
credits (I had 75) to take part in ‘reading the law’, which is an in office law
school being apprenticed by lawyers. For anyone assuming this is the easy way
out, it’s not.”
(source: all4women.co.za)
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the execution of Christopher Price in Alabama on May 30, the USA has now
executed 1,499 condemned individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized
on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision.
Gary Gilmore was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below
is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone
of 1500 executions in the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1500------July 31-------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas
1501------Aug. 15-------------Dexter Johnson-----------Texas
1502-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee
1503-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas
1504-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas
1505-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas
1506-------Sept. 12-----------Warren Henness-----------Ohio
1507-------Oct. 2-------------Stephen Barbee-----------Texas
Learn more about efforts to #StopThe1500th Execution and how you can be
involved at http://deathpenaltyaction.org/1500th [deathpenaltyaction.org]
(source: Rick Halperin)
**********************
New Hampshire has become the 21st state to abolish or overturn the death
penalty, joining a growing list of states that have done away with the
punishment. 29 states still allow capital punishment, but in 4 of them
governors have issued moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.
A list of the states that have abandoned the death penalty and year that took
place:
New Hampshire, 2019
Washington, 2018
Delaware, 2016
Maryland 2013
Connecticut, 2012
Illinois, 2011
New Mexico, 2009
New York, 2007
New Jersey, 2007
Rhode Island, 1984
Massachusetts, 1984
North Dakota, 1973
Iowa, 1965
West Virginia, 1965
Vermont, 1964
Alaska, 1957
Hawaii, 1957
Minnesota, 1911
Maine, 1887
Wisconsin, 1853
Michigan, 1846
(source: startribune.com)
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